Fort Wayne Observed

Newspaper Recycling: Daily Deja Vu at the Wall Street Journal

Newspaper staff cutbacks affect national newspapers as well as local ones.

One assumes the Wall Street Journal has cut back another staff position. Otherwise it is a little early for the newspaper equivalent of Bill Murray's film "Groundhog Day."

Today's "Salt and Pepper" cartoon has the same caption as yesterday's.

New FWOb Poll on Todd Rokita

Now that US Representative Mike Pence has ended speculation he might seek the nomination to oppose US Senator Evan Bayh for re-election, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita has indicated he is now giving the race consideration.

Mr. Rokita is term-limited and could not re-election this year to the post of Secretary of State.

Go to the left hand side of this page and vote under the "Your Take" section.

Kelty for Mayor Campaign Asks Fort Wayne Observed to Take Down Old Post

The Kelty for Mayor campaign has made a request of the Fort Wayne Observed weblog.

No, not that Kelty for mayor campaign; the one currently being waged for the mayor's job in Flagstaff, Arizona.

That would be the campaign of former Flagstaff City Councilmember Kara Kelty. While Ms. Kelty is a Democrat, the city election in the Arizona city does not list candidates by party. 

FWOb has been asked to remove an archived post dealing with a then-student at Indiana University who bought up the URL's for mayoral candidates in the last Fort Wayne municipal election.

This comment was received by Fort Wayne Observed from Mr. Rudy Preston:

Hi, Could you remove this now, it is outdated. I am with the Kara Kelty for Mayor campaign and we are using keltyformayor.com and we are not cybersquatting it. We just recently bought the name and it was freely available. Sorry to hear about your troubles with this in the past. You come up in our site as a link.

Mr. Preston is a board member of the Flagstaff Activist Network. In December of 2004 he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest as part of a plea agreement to settle charges brought by a grand jury for actions during a John Kerry rally in Flagstaff.

Swing State readers: "I miss 2008 :-( "

The Swing State Project is a liberal weblog.  The newly released Rasmussen poll has drawn an interesting response from its readers.

This is a sampling:

by: sapelcovits

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by: you @ soon

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Why do I have this sickening feeling

I expect to read a headline later this week that goes "Pence announces Senate bid, Bayh retires."

I miss 2008. :-(

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by: trowaman

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by: you @ soon

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Ugh, those Numbers look ugly for Bayh

What the hell is going on in the Hoosier State?

Remember North Dakota: You could be right. Rasmussen boosted Hoevens Chances and pushed Dorgan into Retirement.

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by: Democrat for Obama

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by: you @ soon

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Come on

I'm not terribly sanguine about our prospects in November, but do you REALLY think that one Rasmussen poll, taken at the absolute low ebb of Democratic popularity, showing a Pence lead within the statistical margin of error is really going to be enough to push out a well-liked, electorally-tested fundraising monster like Evan Bayh?

Maybe Pence will run, and maybe he'll even win, but this is in no way comparable with the North Dakota situation.

New FWOb Online Poll on Senate Race

US Representative Mike Pence is to decide this week whether he will accede to requests to run for the Republican nomination for the US Senate for the right to take on incumbent US Senator Evan Bayh. 

You can add your opinion by voting in the "Your Take" poll in the left hand column of this page.  We have included the names of the two leading candidates already seeking the nomination.

The News-Sentinel editorial page is running a related online poll here. The NS poll asks "Do you think Sen. Evan Bayh is vulnerable in this year's election

The End Result of Theft at Library

Riddle: What is something that you can check out at the library circulation desk that they don't want returned? 

You can find the answer in the photo above. It shows a sign posted at the Little Turtle branch of the Allen County Public Library.

In many homes, the bathroom is sometimes called the 'reading room.'  In the case of the Little Turtle branch, however, you won't be handed a Reader's Digest from the periodical section to take.  There, according to the sign, a patron will receive actual toilet paper.

Pence Tops Bayh in Rasmussen Poll

One of the notable things about the 2010 race for US Senate in Indiana has been the dearth of publicly-released polling data. 

This was a function of assumptions being made that any early polling would just confirm that incumbent US Senator Evan Bayh was far in the lead for reelection.

However, the win by US Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts and the open encouragement of Mike Pence to get in the race by the the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has changed all that.

The pollling organization of Scott Rasmussen was in the field conducting a telephone poll from January 21 to January 24.  The results were released today. 

You can view the Rasmussen release here.

From the RealClear Politics blog:

Bayh leads two other Republicans, ex-congressman John Hostettler and State Sen. Marlin Stutzman, but still polled below 50% -- not a good sign for an incumbent.

Bayh 44 - Pence 47

Bayh 44 - Hostettler 41

Bayh 45 - Stutzman 33

Mr. Pence represents portions of Allen County.

Oh, and one other thing, FWOb noticed that the title of the Mike Pence website has been changed to the generic "Mike Pence campaign website." 

The Why and How-to for Running for Delegate to Your Party's State Convention

A link to the form for declaring a candidacy for state delegate is contained in the last paragraph below.

Today was the first day for filing candidacies for offices voted on in the 2010 election.

There will be plenty of stories in print over the next few weeks about which candidates have filed for state legislative offices, the US Senate seat, US Representative seats and numerous county offices.  There will even be some mention of those who have filed candidacies in the larger population townships for trustee and township board.

There will be very few stories written about the position of state convention delegate.  Each party will elect delegates at the May primary for attendance at the respective party state conventions in June. 

Candidates run by township or ward.   Multiple persons are elected from each district.  In some delegate districts there may be upwards of ten or fifteen candidates.

Putting one's name on the ballot is a good way to gauge name identification and voter appeal on a small scale. Someone thinking of running for higher office one day is well-advised to take the preliminary step of running for delegate.

Now, it's true that the two state party conventions this year are likely to be dull affairs. Convention contests for people seeking to be the nominees for Indiana Secretary of State, State Auditor and State Treasurer are likely to be few.

However, it is a good opportunity for those new to convention politics to meet others, to network and begin to build relationships for future contests for statewide office and national convention delegates two years hence.

There are many who think that the parties need to be less an insider's game and one more open to grassroots voters.  This is the place to start.

It is also a good opportunity for the politically interested high school or college student. Anyone 18 or older and a registered voter can file.  A first taste of what it is like to see one's name on the ballot can be an inspiration for more involvement.

The form for filing for state delegate to the Republican or Democratic state convention can be downloaded here.  Those living in Allen County can file to run at the Allen County Election Board on the first floor of the City-County Building in downtown Fort Wayne. The Election Board staff will notarize the form for you.  You may also get it notarized and file by mail. The filing deadline is noon February 19th.

(The form may also be used to file for Democratic precinct committeeman. Republican precinct committeepersons are elected in the presidential election year).

Lincoln Subject to Obama Tax

Lincoln National may face a taxing consequence of its choice to acquire a banking institution that made it eligible to accept TARP funds from the federal government.

Lincoln National falls into the class of institutions that would be subject to the large bank tax proposed by President Obama.

From today's Wall Street Journal:

The proposed tax, unveiled Thursday by President Barack Obama, would amount to 0.15% of total assets minus high-quality capital, such as common stock, and disclosed and retained earnings. Insurance-policy reserves would be untaxed, according to the White House, but analysts and insurers note that some details are yet to be clarified. The fee must be approved by lawmakers.

Quite a few insurers qualify for the tax, according to analysts. According to a fact sheet from the Obama administration, the fee would cover large insurance and other companies that own insured depository institutions. American International Group Inc., MetLife Inc., Prudential Financial Inc., AllState Corp., Lincoln National Corp., Hartford Financial Service Group Inc., Ameriprise Financial Inc. and Principal Financial Group all are eligible for the tax, based on total adjusted assets, according to a Friday report by Credit Suisse.

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Lincoln National received $950 million from the program and would owe tax of about $29.4 million, according to Credit Suisse.

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Lincoln National didn't respond to a request for comment.